


And If I'm Gone Tomorrow

by LonelyThursday



Series: What Was Ours Still Will Be [1]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Meetings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Hospitals, Implied Attempted Suicide, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jewish Elmer, M/M, Meet-Cute, Newsies References, No Actual Character Death, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Theaters, Trans Character, Trans Racetrack Higgins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-06-25 13:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19747048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LonelyThursday/pseuds/LonelyThursday
Summary: Race is twenty-four now, he has a nice sized apartment in Brooklyn, a good job as a lab tech as he works his way through grad school, and two beautiful soulmates to share his bed with, but he still wakes up crying for a boy he barely ever knew.Soulmate AU where when you first touch your soulmate your spirit animal appears on their skin. The boys keep meeting Albert, but they always lose him before they ever really get to know him. Happy ending I swear





	1. Race and Albert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I did do the cliche thing and use Newsies song lyrics as the title, so sue me

_Antonia ran through the park at top speed. The six-year-old had been begging her mom to take her to the park for what seemed like forever and she wasn’t about to waste a second of their excursion._

_“Toni! Slow down!” Her mom called from behind her, but Toni didn’t slow down. She had to get away from her brother and sister so that she could have some_ real _fun._

_Eventually Toni goes under the large play structure, she’s a pirate on the hunt for some buried treasure. She goes to look behind the faux rock wall that has a fake dinosaur skeleton under it when she meets him._

_He’s curled up and the ground, back pressed against the rock wall like he’s trying to hide from something. He seems small, even to Toni, and she thinks he’s crying, but what really stands out most about him is how shockingly bright his red hair is. Like fire._

_While Toni_ is _a pirate, and pirates don’t care about anyone but themselves, she can’t help but want to make this boy stop crying._

_“Hey!” She yells maybe a bit too loudly._

_The boy flinches, but he raises his head to look at her. There’s fear in his eyes until he focuses on Toni, then it melts into apprehension. “What?”_

_“Why’re ya cryin’?” She asks bluntly._

_“Ain’t cryin’.” The boy responds._

_“Are too!”_

_“Am not!”_

_“Are too!”_

_“Am_ not _!”_

_Toni grins, over the course of their argument, the boy has stopped crying. “Ok so ya ain’t cryin’. Whatcha doin’ under here?”_

_“I’m hidin’ from my ma.” The boy whispers, as if he remembered that yelling wouldn’t help him hide._

_Toni tilts her head to the side, confused by the answer. Sure she ran from her mom, but she would never_ hide _from her unless they were playing hide-n-seek, and she certainly never cried when playing hide-n-seek. “Whatcha hidin’ from your mom for?”_

_“Don’t wanna go home. ‘S too loud there.” The boy answers, he looks like he’s about to start crying again._

_Toni nods sagely, as if she understands, she doesn’t really though._

_“Well I’m Toni, it’s nice ta meetcha!” Toni says, sticking her hand out for a shake like her papa taught her._

_The boy looks at her hand hesitantly, then her face, then back at her hand. Toni smiles the entire time, confident that the boy would return the gesture given time. Eventually the boy uncurls enough to give her his hand. Toni’s grin widens._

_The boy quietly tells her his name, but Toni isn’t paying attention because the second their hands met the oddest feeling started in her palm._

_Toni pulls her hand back to see that there is now a small, brown, vaguely circular animal now gracing her palm. It appears to be part of her skin, and it reminds her of the bunny on her mom’s skin, the one that moves in response to her papa’s feelings._

_Toni looks back at the boy to see him staring at his palm in the same manner as her. Toni opens her mouth to ask him… something, she’s not really sure what, but she cuts herself off when she feels the odd sensation begin to travel up her arm. She looks and sees that the animal on her palm is no longer on her palm, but hand now turned into a complete circle and is rolling up her arm, moving with the sensation._

_Toni lets out an excited giggle, which causes the boy to look at her again, but before either can say a word, a woman’s sharp voice rings out._

Race wakes up in tears. As a child he could never remember what name the angry woman in his dream - memory - had yelled (he had been too afraid of her at the time), but he knew that it had been the boy’s name. The name he had tried to tell Race, but Race had been too preoccupied by sensation on his hand to pay attention to. 

As an adult, Race now knows that that sensation was his soul bonding to another soul. He knows that that vaguely circular animal is an armadillo, and is the manifestation of the boy’s soul on Race’s skin. He also knows that the boy’s name is Albert. Albert DaSilva.

Race knows that if he hadn’t woken up the memory would have continued playing out. The woman, whom Race remembers as being a terrifying witch (though that’s probably not how she had really looked), had stormed under the rock walls and roughly grabbed the boy by the arm and dragged him off. The boy had stared at Race in terror the entire time, and Race had stared back, unaware that he was losing his soulmate. Later, after Race had calmed down enough to move, he ran back to his mom and explained the entire ordeal to her. Race’s mom had smiled sadly and told him that he had just met his soulmate. Race had cried, even though he didn’t quite understand what a soulmate was, he understood that he had just lost someone very important. Race’s mom had never refused Race a trip to the park again as both Higgins were hoping to find the boy there again. They never did, and all Race has of Albert DaSilva is an armadillo on his skin.

Race is twenty-four now, he has a nice sized apartment in Brooklyn, a good job as a lab tech as he works his way through grad school, and two beautiful soulmates to share his bed with, but he still wakes up crying for a boy he barely ever knew. The closest Race has ever been to finding the boy again is when he met Elmer, who also had an armadillo on his skin from a brief encounter with a boy with bright red hair, but like Race, his encounter had ended and Elmer had lost the boy. Unlike Race, however, Elmer had obtained the boy’s name before he was gone. Albert DaSilva. Not that the name helped them much, they could never find Albert on any social media. If he hadn’t left his mark on both Race and Elmer, then one might think he had never even existed.

Race quietly gets up from the bed, grateful that he wasn’t the one sleeping in the middle tonight, and head to the living room. He doesn’t want to wake his soulmates with his crying.

His efforts prove fruitless, however, when Spot follows him out of the bedroom not five minutes later. Spot heads directly to the kitchen, and returns a few minutes later with two mugs of hot chocolate. Spot doesn’t say anything as he hands Race one of the mugs, he just sits silently beside him, letting Race get his thoughts together.

The two sit in uninterrupted silence for a minute before Race is ready to speak. 

“Sometimes I think he’s dead.” He whispers into the darkness, not looking at Spot.

Spot’s jaw clenches. Spot never had an encounter with Albert (maybe Race should stop thinking of them as ‘encounters’, it makes it seem like Albert is an alien or something), and there had been a while in high school where the redhead had been a contentious subject between the two of them. Spot works on not letting it get to him, but Race knows that it bothers him that his two soulmates have a third one out there that he’s never met (personally, Race thinks that Spot and Albert are probably also soulmates, but he doesn’t think that that would make Spot feel better, so he never mentions it). 

“He ain’t dead.” Spot replies gruffly. “Ya’d know if he was dead.”

Spot is right of course. If Albert was dead then the armadillo would stop moving and fade into black and white, but Race still worries.

Race doesn’t say anything, he just finishes his hot chocolate and leans into Spot’s shoulder. The two sit like that for a long time before Elmer emerges from the bedroom. No one says anything as Elmer climbs into their laps and falls back asleep right there. Eventually Race falls asleep too, and it’s just Spot awake. Thinking about a boy he’s never met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why Albert's soulmark is an armadillo, I think I was thinking about the armadillo from The Road To El Dorado.  
> Anyway hoped you like it, the next chapter will be up soon


	2. Race and Spot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this written before I posted the first chapter, but I told myself that I had to finish the third chapter before I could post this one
> 
> I don't remember if I said this in the first chapter, and I'm too lazy to check so I'll just say it here  
> Albert - Armadillo  
> Race - Horse (Obviously) I'm thinking mostly brown with some white spots  
> Spot - Grey Pitbull (Adorable but kinda scary)  
> Elmer - Corgi

Antonio runs down the street at full speed. The fifteen-year-old is on his way to Jack’s house because Medda’s taken in a new foster kid and Tony wants to meet them.

“Hey Racer!” Jack calls from the second story window of Medda’s house. “What took ya so long?”

“I was stalling so I didn’t have to see your ugly mug!” Race calls back as he reaches the door. 

Race just lets himself in without knocking. Jack has lived with Medda since he was nine, and he and Race have been best friends for almost as long. Jack was the first kid that Medda had taken in, then there was Crutchie, then Smalls, then Mike and Ike, and now Spot. Each kid was younger than the last, but Jack has said that Spot was their age, which intrigued Race even more.

Race makes his way quickly through the house to Jack’s room. Being the same age Medda had put Spot and Jack in the same room. Race calls a quick hello to Medda whose only response is to yell “Antonio Higgins, you better not be tracking dirt through my house!”

“I’m not, Medda!” Race calls in return, though he has really no idea if he’s tracking dirt in the house or not. 

When he reaches Jack’s room the door is already open. The room looks different than it had a few days ago when Race last dropped by, before Spot had moved in. The single twin bed is gone, replaced by bunk beds, the number of desks in the room has doubled, Jack’s art supplies are gone. And the room is clean. That’s definitely new.

Jack is sitting in a desk chair by the window, but he jumps up when Race enters. 

“Racer!” He cries, as if he’s surprised that Race is here. “Ya came!”

“‘Course I came, Jack, ya saw me outside.” Race grumbles good-naturedly as he hugs his best friend.

Jack just nods, then points to a figure hunched over one of the desks.

“That’s Spot.” He tells Race, as if it isn’t obvious. “He’s been like that basically all day.”

Spot is short, even sitting down Race can tell he’s short, but he clearly more than makes up for his height with muscles. His hair is dark, darker than Jack’s, and Jack’s hair is pretty dark. Spot clearly can’t hear them talk about him as he has music blaring out of his earbuds, and his back is turned to them. Race wouldn’t be surprised with Spot didn’t even realize that anyone else was in the room. 

“Heya Race!” Crutchie is standing in the doorway, having heard Race come in. “Ya meet Spot yet?”

“Oh I’m about to!” Race is grinning in a way that makes Crutchie think he should film what happens next.

Crutchie pulls out his phone as Race crossed the room to stand directly behind Spot, who still hasn’t noticed his presence. The following events happen so fast that Crutchie is glad he can rewatch them.

Race yanks out one of Spot’s earbuds, yells “hey, Spotty” into the now empty ear, and promptly gets punched in the face.

Race falls back onto the ground, clutching his cheek in his hand. Spot is now facing him, tensed and ready for a fight, before seeming to realize that no fight will occur and loosening his stance. Crutchie has one hand gripping his phone and the other covering his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter. Jack is making no attempt to stifle his own laughter as he clutches his stomach and falls over with the force of it.

Spot stands there for a minute before he starts yelling. “What the hell!?”

All the noise seems to attract the other four residents of the house, and they all come running to Jack’s room to see what happened. 

“What’s going on here?” Medda asks as she takes in the scene. Spot blushes and starts stuttering out an explanation.

“I-I didn’t mean to- I mean I didn’t realize- I-“

“He deserved it mama.” Crutchie interrupts. “Look.”

Crutchie shows Medda the video, and Smalls leans over her shoulder to watch it too, but Mike and Ike are more focused on Race, who’s let go of his cheek in order to push himself off the ground.

“What’s that?” One of the nine-year-olds asks, pointed at Race’s face.

“Looks like a dog.” States the other, also pointing at Race.

Everyone is staring at Race now, except Spot whose face is completely red as he avidly avoids making eye contact with anyone.

“What?” Race asks, looking between everyone confused.

“Ya got a soulmark on your face.” Jack tells him plainly.

“Red?” The name Race has given the armadillo that belong to the red haired boy he met almost nine years ago.

“Nuh uh, it’s a dog.”

“Oh.” Now that he thinks about it, the tingle in his face doesn’t feel like the tingle one gets from being punched, it’s more akin to the feeling he had when he met Red. Race lifts hand to his face again, but this time he touches his cheek reverently. “How?”

Jack just gives him a look like he’s dumb before gesturing to Spot.

Oh.

Oh!

Race’s head snaps to Spot as Medda starts crying with joy. Crutchie has his camera going again, and Smalls clings excitedly to her older brother. Mike and Ike are still looking confused. 

Spot tentatively brings his arm up to show a horse trotting up his forearm. Race never saw the animal on Red’s palm, he wonders if Red got a horse that looks identical, he probably did, that’s generally how it works.

After a minute of Spot and Race just staring at each other, Jack gets bored. “Sooo are you guys just gonna stand there all day?”

“Jack!” Medda reprimands. 

That snaps Race out of his thoughts and he sticks his hand out like his papa taught him to. “I’m Race.”

Spot looks at the proffered hand for a second before taking it.

“‘M Spot, but I think you know that.” Spot mumbles.

“Aaaaand kiss.”

“Jack Kelly! Get over here!” Medda physically drags Jack and one of the twins from the room and the other three siblings follow after her, though Crutchie is clearly disappointed that he can’t film the entire interaction.

“I’m sorry I scared you.” Race says once he and his new soulmate are alone.

“ _I’m_ sorry I punched you in the face.” Spot fires back.

Race just waves him off. “As Crutchie said, I deserved it.”

The two fall into awkward silence.

“So your name isn’t really ‘Race’, is it?” Spot eventually breaks the silence.

Race gives him a smirk. “Is yours really ‘Spot’?”

Spot shakes his head and gives Race a matching smirk.

‘Oh yeah,’ Race thinks. ‘He’s definitely mine.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like this happier chapter cuz the next chapter is SAD  
> The next chapter is Elmer and Albert
> 
> It's not really important, but Race Jack and Spot are all 15, Crutchie is 13, Smalls is 12, and Mike and Ike are 9


	3. Elmer and Albert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't hate me too much, but it's gonna get really sad here guys, but the Happy Ending tag isn't a lie. I don't think I could stand to leave my boys sad forever.  
> Spot, Race, and Albert are all a year older than Elmer  
> Also it should be noted that I am not any kind of medical person, and I've never really been in a hospital, so I tried to keep everything kind of vague
> 
> Slight trigger warning for implied attempted suicide. If you want to skip the chapter then I'll recap the important bits in the notes for the next chapter, but nothing is ever said outright. Only vaguely implied

Elmer is _not_ running, thank you very much, he’s walking. He might be walking a little _fast_ , but he’s still _walking_. It’s his first day in the hospital as an official pre-med volunteer and he’s excited. A little nervous, but mostly excited.

Elmer is sixteen, in his second semester of running start, and so _ready_ to get to work in a real hospital, not just the small clinic he volunteered at in his hometown. He’s ready to help people.

Today he’s going to help the nurses in the coma ward, and yes, the thought of being around essentially a bunch of sleeping people gives him the creeps a little bit, but that’s just something he’ll have to get used to for when he’s a full-fledged nurse. He’ll be fine. They’re coma patients, they won’t even know he’s there.

Buttons, the nurse that Elmer will be shadowing, gives him a smile when he finally reaches the coma ward. Buttons wears a hijab, and honestly the sight of her always makes Elmer glad that his parents let him live with his aunts in the city to do running start. His town had _no_ diversity and the Kasprzaks had been the only non-Christians around. This city is just so big that diversity is inevitable.

“Hiya, Elmer! You ready for this?” Buttons asks him. Elmer’s grin grows, he’s _so_ ready for this.

“You bet!” He replies. Buttons nods and pushes the door open for him to enter first.

The coma ward isn’t too different from any other ward. There’s a nurses’ station on the other side of the doors and a few chairs as a sort of waiting area, but mostly there are a lot of doors. There’s two hallways to either side of the nurses’ stations, each lined with doors on either side, each door holds a room, and each room hold at least one coma patient.

A male nurse smiles at then from behind the counter and pulls out a clipboard.

“Morning Buttons, got a newbie I see.” He hands Buttons the clipboard with a flirtatious wink that causes Buttons to go slightly red.

“Good morning Henry, this is Elmer, he’s going to be helping me today.”

Henry sends Elmer a less flirtatious wink. “I’m sure you’ll do great kid, I’ve never heard any complaints from our patients before.”

“Henry!” Buttons admonishes. It takes Elmer a second to realize he meant the patients had never complained… because they’re in comas.

Elmer lets out a snort and Buttons glares at him too.

“Sorry Buttons.” Elmer looks down in shame.

“Sorry Buttons.” Henry doesn’t look at all ashamed.

“Mm hmm, c’mon Elmer, let's get to work.” Buttons leads Elmer down the hallway on the left.

“Good luck, Elmer!” Henry calls as Buttons pushes the first door open.

Elmer and Buttons work for about an hour without incident, Buttons checks her clipboard, makes a few notes on patients’ charts, and fiddles around with the variety of machines in every room. The entire time she’s doing this she narrates what she’s doing and why to Elmer. Occasionally she’ll have Elmer make a note, or check a chart, but mostly she just lets him watch her work.

That is, until they reach room 352. 

Room 352 has mostly teenagers in it, people Elmer’s age. There’s five patients in the room and the last one they attend to is the one nearest the window. The teen in the bed looks to be about Elmer’s age, fiery red hair, and way too skinny looking. When Buttons picks up his chart, Elmer sneaks a look.

Albert DaSilva, age 17.

Buttons looks at the chart, then at one of the machines, then back at the chart. She frowns and sets the chart back down, then moves to fiddle with the machine.

“Can you check his pulse, Elmer? It seems a little high, I’m not sure if the machine is reading it right.” Buttons is more focused on the machine than on Elmer so he makes a verbal confirmation to go along with his head nod.

Elmer reaches out with one hand to grab Albert’s wrist, his face turned towards the clock by the door. A strange sensation passes through Elmer’s hand when it makes contact with the sleeping boy, but Elmer chalks it up to the strangeness of touching another human while they’re unconscious. Ten seconds passes and Elmer relays the pulse to Buttons, it’s the same as the machine is reading.

“Ok, I’ll get Mush to check on him.” Buttons sighs as she leads Elmer out of the room. “Who knows, maybe he’ll wake up soon.”

“How long has he been here?” Elmer asks as he and Buttons head back to the nurses’ station.

“Uh, almost two months I think. He came in a little after New Years for an OD. Henry! Is Mush in?” When the reach the nurses’ station Buttons is off looking for the doctor, so Elmer just hangs out with Henry, unsure whether he would leave or not.

“So what’s up?” Henry asks.

Elmer shrugs. “One of the patients had an elevated heart rate, I guess Buttons thinks it’s concerning?”

Henry nods. He looks towards Elmer for a second, then does a double take. He’s looking right at Elmer’s right hand. 

“Did you have that earlier?” He asks pointing at an armadillo curled up on the back of Elmer’s hand that had definitely _not_ been there earlier.

Elmer looks at his hand, shocked. He looks up at Henry and shakes his head, barely managing to whisper “no.”

“Elmer, look at me.” Suddenly very serious, Henry reaches across the counter to put a hand on both of Elmer’s shoulders. “Elmer, who did you touch? It is very important that you tell me where you got that.”

“I-I just- I mean I didn’t-didn’t notice.” Elmer stutters, suddenly very worried that he’s in trouble.

“Who did you touch, Elmer?” Henry’s voice is calm, but there’s a hint of panic in his eyes.

“I-I-I took, uh I took Albert’s pulse?” It’s not a question, but Elmer says it like one anyway.

“And you touched him? With your hand?” Elmer nods. “You weren’t wearing gloves?”

Elmer shakes his head, Henry sighs and releases Elmer’s shoulders. 

“Did I do something wrong?” Elmer whispers.

“No.” Henry answers, but he’s clearly distracted. “Buttons!”

Buttons and the doctor emerge from a room behind the counter that they had been talking in. “Yeah, Hen?”

“You had Elmer take DaSilva’s pulse?” Henry’s panic is even less concealed now, but his voice is still calm.

The blood drains from Buttons’ face, and the doctor looks from Buttons to Henry before finally landing on Elmer. His eyes widen when notices the sleeping armadillo, the situation suddenly becoming clear to him.

“I did, but DaSilva has a mark already! I didn’t think-“ she cuts herself off with a shake of her head. A forced calm falls over her. “Elmer, I think it’s time for you to go home.”

“But-“

“Elmer, look at me, ok?” Buttons comes around the counter to stand directly in front of Elmer. “I shouldn’t have had you take DaSilva’s pulse without making you put gloves on. It’s my fault, ok? But he’s a minor, and so are you, so I shouldn’t have let you touch him.”

Elmer’s crying now, he can see where this is going. “But we’re-“ 

“I know El, I know, but I can’t let you stay. I’ll call his mom ok? If she gives permission, then you can come back and see him, but if she doesn’t…”

Buttons is crying too. Henry and the doctor have long since left to go check on patients, or just avoid this awkwardness, Elmer doesn’t really care which. How can he when Buttons is telling him he can’t see his soulmate.

“Buttons,” Elmer’s voice cracks, but he doesn’t care. She’s going to make him leave.

“I’m sorry Elmer. I’ll call you if she gives the go ahead, ok? But you have to go home now.”

Elmer nods, though he doesn’t really want to, and leaves, though he _really_ doesn’t want to. 

But he does.

Elmer goes home. To his aunts’ apartment, where he will wait for a phone call from Buttons. He doesn’t stop crying the entire time. He can’t stop thinking about Albert, his _soulmate_.

He waits for a phone call.

It never comes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So because Albert and Elmer are both minors, and because Albert is in a coma, they can't realy consent with anything, so it's a big no no for the hospital to allow Elmer to touch Albert without gloves as Albert is a patient and Elmer is technically a staff member (because they could form a soul bond). Buttons could get in a lot of trouble for this, but she thought the odds of Albert having more than one soulmate (and for that soulmate to be Elmer) to be unlikey.  
> Albert OD-ed because he was trying to commit suicide, but if you don't like that you can ignore it.  
> Mush is the doctor, and Buttons and Henry are soulmates
> 
> Anyway I've written chapter 5, still working on chapter 4. There is a possiblility that chapter 4 will be broken into two different chapters... I don't know yet


	4. Elmer and Spot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might have noticed that this is chapter 4/7 instead of 4/6, originally this chapter was suppose to be Elmer, Spot, and Race, but I broke it up into Elmer and Spot, and Elmer and Race.
> 
> If you skipped the last chapter it was basically Elmer meets Albert, except Albert was in a coma, then due to hospital policy Elmer was orced to leave, and then he couldn't find Albert again. Bad summary, but whatever.

Elmer is running. So sue him, he’s going to be _late_. He’s eighteen now and it’s his first day at an actual university and he’s running _late_. The universe is just out to get him. 

He had woken up early this morning to ensure that he had plenty of time to get ready, but after he ate breakfast he had noticed that Albert’s armadillo was being particularly active. Which meant Albert was being particularly active, and Elmer couldn’t help but watch the armadillo scurry around his body in fascination.

Elmer had been so scared after he first touched Albert (and then been promptly thrown out of the hospital) because Albert had been in a coma and the armadillo never _moved_. It just sat there on his hand, curled up like when Henry had first pointed it out. Elmer had been scared that Albert would be in a coma forever and that the armadillo would never move. 

But then, about a week after the incident, the armadillo started moving. Not a lot at first, but the movement built up until they got where they were this morning, with the armadillo scurrying around and Elmer watching, pleased and yet so very sad.

The day after the armadillo started moving, Elmer had gotten a call from Buttons, but it wasn’t the one he had been hoping for. Albert’s mom had denied Elmer all opportunity to meet his soulmate, and had threatened to sue the hospital if Elmer ever appeared in her son’s life again. She had moved Albert to a new hospital, and Elmer was allowed to continue his internship at the hospital, but even after both Albert and Elmer turned eighteen the threat of being sued kept the hospital from giving Elmer any information that would let him find his soulmate again.

Elmer was alone in the world with only an armadillo to keep him company.

Hence why he’s literally _running_ late.

There’s a ‘wet floor’ sign ahead, but those don’t usually mean anything, so Elmer ignores it. Which might be the best dumb decision of his life as the floor, it turns out, _is_ wet, and Elmer _does_ slip. He doesn't hit the floor, however, as a strong hand wraps around his bicep keeps him upright.

A strange-but-familiar sensation starts around his bicep and this time, Elmer recognizes it for what it is. He spins around to face his savior, foolishly hoping to see bright red hair. The boy - man really, as he looks to be at least two years older than Elmer - does not have red hair. He has black hair, and an intimidating look about him, but his face is soft with concern and maybe something else.

Disappointment washes over Elmer for a second before he realizes what this means. He has _two_ soulmates. Not only that but Buttons has said that Albert had already _had_ a soulmark before Elmer came along. Maybe this is Albert’s other soulmate.

Maybe he knows where Albert is.

Elmer give the man a big grin. All the concern melts from the man’s face, and he returns the smile full force. It shouldn’t go well with his intimidating posture, but it does.

“That’s quite a fall you almost had.” The man teases with a thick Brooklyn accent.

“Well lucky for me I had a knight in shining armor to save me.” Elmer returns with the same teasing tone. The guy just smiles wider.

“I’m Spot.” The guy finally lets go of Elmer’s bicep in favor of sticking his hand out for a handshake.

Once Spot lets go of his arm, Elmer checks to see what Spot left there. It’s a grey pitbull. They’ve only just met, but Elmer thinks it’s fitting.

“I’m Elmer.” He checks Spot’s hand right before he takes it. He never got to see what he left on Albert, he doesn’t know what his spirit animal is. It’s a corgi.

“Nice ta meetcha, Elmer. Were you going somewhere important just a second ago, or do you just enjoy rushin’ through hallways?” The blood drains from Elmer’s face as he remembers. He late to _class_.

“I’m late!” Elmer yells, a bit panicked because on the one hand, it’s the first day of classes and he should at least see what the professor’s deal is with attendance, but on the other hand _Spot_.

Spot just chuckles, it’s his second year here and being a little late doesn’t worry him anymore. Not that it ever really did, but still. “What class ya headed to?”

“Greek Mythology.” Elmer answers, it’s not a class he needs for the pre-med program, but it covers a university requirement that he hadn’t gotten in running start.

“Then don’t sweat it, Greek Myth is a large lecture class, the prof will never know your name wit’ your face unless you go talk to them. Which you don’t need to do cuz the class is an easy A. Lucky you, I’ve got a two-hour break, so how’s about I go wit’ you, and I’ll distract you while the prof is talkin’, sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.” Elmer sighs, if the professor says something important then he’ll be there to hear it, but he also gets to ignore most of the lecture in favor of his new soulmate. That’s a win-win in Elmers book.

Elmer doesn’t pay an ounce of attention during his mythology class, he’s much too enthralled in Spot. He thinks the professor goes over the syllabus, but he really couldn’t repeat a single thing on it. All he can think about is Spot’s hand on his knee and the way Spot gets really close to his ear when he whispers so that he doesn’t disturb any who is actually paying attention in class.

“So what are you doing after this?” Spot asks eventually. 

“I have another class.” Elmer whispers back regretfully. Spot nods.

“Me too, don’t suppose I can getcha to skip?” Spot asks, but he’s not expecting much.

Elmer looks a little horrified. “It’s the first day!”

Spot chuckles a little, he didn’t think so, but it was worth a shot. 

“Here,” Spot hands Elmer his phone with the new contact screen up. “Put in your number and we’ll meet after your class. Then you can meet Race.”

“Who’s Race?” Elmer asks as he types out his number. Maybe it’s Albert? Then again, what kind of name is Race? Maybe it’s a dog?

“Oh.” In all the time that Spot was talking, he had never mentioned his other soulmate, and it hadn’t occurred to him that Elmer and Race might not be soulmates too. “He’s my other soulmate.”

“Albert?” 

“Who?”

Elmer and Spot both state st each other for a second. Neither really sure who the other was talking about. Before either could form a coherent sentence, the professor was releasing the class, and the swarm of students pushed Elmer and Spot out of the lecture hall and in different directions.

As Elmer reaches his next class his phone buzzes with a new text

**From Spot Conlon:  
** _Meet me in the student union after class. You better not have any other plans for today._

**To Spot Conlon:  
** _Can’t wait! After this class I’m all yours!_

Elmer smiles as he takes out his notebook. Even if Spot doesn’t know Albert, things are really looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me reading my draft of this fic on google docx: wow I love this fic! I can't wait to read the final chapter!  
> Me: wait! I'm the author! I have to WRITE the final chapter!!
> 
> Oh also, Elmer thinks Spot LOOKS two years older, but Spot's only one year older


	5. Elmer and Race

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elmer and Race...  
> and Spot. Obviously
> 
> Also I'm never going to address it in the story so I might as well say it here: Race's family is very accepting of him and they have a really good relationship.

Elmer isn’t running. It takes everything in him not to run, Spot’s _waiting_ _for him_ and he really wants nothing more than to run to him. He reframed though, if he falls again chances are Spot won’t be there to catch him because Spot is waiting for him in the student union.

So he’s not running, but it’s a close thing.

Spot’s already there when he reaches the student union, and Elmer can’t help but take a moment to just look at him. _That’s his soulmate._ What a thought.

Not only is Spot his soulmate, but Spot has another soulmate! Sure his other soulmate isn’t Albert, but that just means Elmer might have three soulmates!

Unless Spot’s other soulmate isn’t Elmer’s soulmate.

God Elmer hopes he and Race are soulmates too. He doesn’t want to have to be a part of a love triangle.

 _‘Well,’_ Elmer thinks, _‘best get it over with.’_

“Hi Spot!” Elmer grins as he makes his way over to the shorter man, holding his hand out for Spot to take. Spot takes it and intertwines their fingers.

“Hey El! C’mon, I’ll introduce ya to Race.” Spot leads Elmer out of the student union and towards the dorms that are just about as far away from Elmer’s dorm as a person could get at this school. Spot unlocks the door to his building and leads Elmer up to the second floor. 

It’s easy to find Spot and Race’s door since it’s absolutely covered with colorful name tags that their RA had made for them as well as a sign that Jack has made for them and some odds and ends that Race had taped up.

Inside the room, both the twin beds are lofted and pushed together to make one lofted double bed, the legs of which are zip tied together to make that they didn’t separate and cause one or both boys to fall in the middle of the night. Underneath the beds are some camp chairs, an old TV that Race’s older sister had been getting rid of that had an old game cube hooked up to it, and a mini fridge with a microwave on top of it. The other side of the room has two desks, one which is overflowing with junk and odd knickknacks, the other is almost barren except for a coffee maker and a neat stack of textbooks. Two wardrobes line the wall on either side of the door. Almost every single square inch of the walls are covered with band posters, photographs, or banners, and a line of fairy lights circle the perimeter of the room.

Spot pulls Elmer inside and shuts the door after them. Elmer can’t help but look around the room in wonder. It was the just _first_ day of classes and Spot and Race had already fully decorated their room.

“Hey Racer!” Spot calls, though the room looks empty to Elmer. A figure moves on top of the bed, however, proving him wrong.

“Heya Spotty! Have a good day in class?” A voice asks, followed by a head adorned with golden curls poking over the edge of the bed. “Oh who’s that?”

Spot grins as Race climbs down. “This is Elmer, I met him this mornin’ when he almost fell to his death.”

“I wouldn’t have died!” Objects Elmer at the same time Race stops in front of him, looking him over.

“Nice to meetcha Elmer.” Race sticks his hand out like he does every time he meets someone and Elmer takes it. Spot watches as a look crosses both of their faces, relieved. _Yeah, they’re soulmates._

Race’s face lights up and he looks from Elmer to Spot and then back again.

“Well I’m certainly glad Spotty saved your life.” Race says a little breathlessly, giddy with the feeling of a new soulbond. 

Elmer just smiles back, this morning he had one absent soulmate, and now he has two more that are _right here._ Best first day of school ever.

After that, the three of them fall into step as if they’ve all known each other for years. Elmer finds himself in the middle of Spot and Race as the three of them sit on one of the beds, backs against the wall with Race’s laptop playing John Mulaney in the other bed. For the first time in almost two years, Albert isn’t on Elmer’s mind.

In the middle of The Comeback Kid, with Spot nearly asleep on one shoulder, and Race playing with his fingers on the other side, Elmer notices movement along Race’s bare arm. At first he thinks it’s just his or Spot’s soulmark, but when he turns to look a little closer at it he realizes that it’s not. It’s an armadillo. Albert’s armadillo.

Elmer stares for a second because _Race is Albert’s other soulmate holy-_

Then he jumps up - or as much as anyone can jump up when they’re on a lofted bed with one person sleeping on them - and points at Race’s arm.

“Albert!”

“What?” Race looks more than a little confused at the sudden outburst, and Spot jolts awake from his position being disturbed.

“You know Albert!” Elmer can’t contain his excitement and he bounces a little bit as he turns to fully face Race.

“Who the fuck is Albert?” Spot asks from behind him. Elmer turns to Spot, still excited even though neither Race nor Spot have given him a very positive reaction so far.

“The armadillo!” Elmer says like it’s obvious. “I have him too!”

That gets Race’s attention and the blond grabs Elmer’s shoulder to pull his attention back to him. 

“You know Red?” There’s a mix of hope and desperation on Race’s face, but Elmer is too happy to really process it.

“If by ‘Red’ you mean ‘a boy with the _reddest_ hair ever’ then yeah! I’ve met him.” Race shakes his head, desperation taking over the hope.

“No, not _met_ him. Do you _know_ him?” Elmer understands then. Race and Spot don’t know Albert. Not really. Race may have Albert’s soulmark, but he doesn’t know him.

Elmer deflates. There are tears in his eyes, and he can see tears forming in Race’s eyes too.

“I only met him once.” Elmer chokes out. “He- He was-“

Elmer’s fully crying now. He feels Spot pull him back into his chest, and it’s the only thing that gives him the strength to continue.

“He was in a coma, and I accidentally- accidentally- *hiccup* and they- they- they didn’t let me see-ee him again.”

Elmer is crying, Race is crying, and he can’t be sure, but Elmer thinks Spot is crying too. Race launches himself at Elmer and the three of them sit there hugging and crying for who knows how long. Eventually, on the laptop, John Mulaney says “-cause he never forgets a _bitch."_ Which causes Race to laugh wetly against Elmer’s neck.

Race pulls back and wipes his tears off with his arm before using his thumbs to wipe Elmer’s off. When he’s done, he just sits there, cupping Elmer’s face in his hands. Then he pulls Elmer forward a little and rests their foreheads together.

“We’ll find him again.” He whispers confidently. “He won’t get away from us a third time.”

Spot’s arms tighten around Elmer’s waist, silently agreeing with the blond. Elmer rests one hand over Spot’s and twist the other one into Race’s hair. Between the three of them, the ginger won’t get away again.

“We’ll find him.” He won’t get away again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought to myself "whats the most dumbass way to combine two twin beds?" and then gave that to Race and Spot. Race would think "loft them and push them together", and Spot think "zip tie them together so no one dies"
> 
> I'll probably post chapter 6 on Friday, and then chapter 7 early next week if I finish it by then


	6. Spot and Albert

Spot stomps down the street in a huff. He’s twenty-four and is really too old to be having a temper tantrum, especially because it really isn’t that big a deal, but Spot has been looking forward to doing nothing today, so this really interferes with those plans.

He’s going to a musical later with his family. Apparently this had been a plan for a while, but no one had bothered informing Spot of this until this morning since Race had known Spot wouldn’t have plans. Doing nothing _is_ a plan, but Race didn’t care.

Crutchie recently met his soulmate, and his soulmate is in this musical, and therefore _everyone_ has to go see it. Spot supposed it would be good to meet Crutchie’s soulmate, he and Jack have to give him the shovel talk after all. His name is like Robin, or Jay… something like that.

Either way, Spot had only been informed about this musical when Race had called him while he was at the shop tinkering on his bike. Race had called to make sure Spot would get home in time to leave. 

So here he is, stomping home so he can get there in time so that they can leave to go see Crutchie’s soulmate’s musical. Of course stomping home in a huff isn’t very conducive to watching where he’s going so _of course_ he runs into someone, and _of course_ that person falls over. Spot may be short, but he’s plenty strong.

The person - a guy with the _reddest_ hair Spot has ever seen - sits on the sidewalk, dazed. He probably hadn’t expected to run into someone when he had turned the corner, but he did. Spot feels a little bad, he _had_ knocked the guy over after all, so he offers him a hand up.

“Sorry, pal. Guess I wasn’t watchin’ where I was goin’.” The guy stares at Spot’s hand for a second before he seems to get a grasp on the situation.

“No harm done, dude. I wasn’t watchin’ either.” The guy smiles and takes the proffered hand.

Spot’s I’m-smiling-because-it’s-the-polite-thing-to-do smile falls off his face at the touch. The ginger’s polite smile falls off too, and they both just sit there, staring at each other, slack-jawed.

It feels just like it did with Race, and with Elmer, and it’s just _then_ that Spot realizes that this guy’s hair is _red_ and that Albert’s hair is _red_. He’s finally found _Albert_.

It takes another minute for Spot to realize that they’re both just sitting there - well, Spot is standing, but Albert’s sitting - and that neither of them had pulled him up.

Spot pulling Albert into standing position seems to snap the ginger out of his daze. The redhead smiles at Spot so widely that Spot realizes why Race had cared so much about him in high school. Even just meeting him for a _minute_ is enough to fall in love.

They’re still holding hands, and neither of them have started talking, but Spot looks down when the feeling starts moving up his arm. The armadillo that finally graces his skin is moving.

 _"Albert_.” 

It barely comes out as a whisper, but Albert hears it anyway.

“Yeah. Yeah! I’m Albert!” He just looks so happy, Spot wants to cry over how he’s been missing so long.

“I’m Spot.” Spot can’t stop smiling either. “Race and Elmer are gonna be so excited.”

“Who?” Albert seems genuinely confused and then Spot remembers that Race only got his nickname after he met Jack, and Albert hadn’t even really _met_ Elmer.

“Tony, and the corgi.” Spot clarifies.

“Oh, yeah! You know them!” Albert is still holding on to Spot’s hand, he’s got it in a death grip now. “Does Toni go by Race now? How’d she get-“

“He.” Spot corrects, jaw clenched. He’s a second away from punching Albert in the face, until he remembers that Race and Albert met _young_. Way before Race had come out. “Race is a boy.”

“Oh.” Albert’s face scrunches up in confusion.

“He’s trans.” Spot clarifies, and realization erases the confusion.

“Oh! That makes sense, yeah.” Albert seems genuine, but Spot needs to make sure.

“You’re ok with that?”

“Yeah, totally! I didn’t know. Obviously. How could I know if I hadn’t seen him since-“

Spot can’t take it anymore, the immediate correction of pronouns is so sexy, so he cuts Albert off. With his mouth. On Albert’s mouth.

Albert laughs into the kiss, and Spot is so in love. They pull back and Albert opens his mouth to say something, but his phone goes off.

Albert finally lets go of Spot’s hand to grab is phone. Spot watches him check his messages - mostly just staring at his face. Damn. Spot never knew he missed Albert until now, but he did. He really missed him, before he even _knew_ him.

Since Spot is staring at Albert’s face, he notices when it falls.

“Shit. Sorry, but I gotta get to work. I’m gonna be late.” Albert apologizes, and Spot can see the genuine regret there.

“Skip work.” He says. “I got a thing with my family, but I can miss it for you. I can call Race and El and they’ll-“

“Spot,” Albert smiles sadly and shakes his head. He looks like he’s about to cry. “I gotta get to work, Spot. This job is important, and you should go see your family.”

“I ain’t lettin’ you go again! For all I know, we only get the three chances and I aint givin’ you up for good!” Spot grabs Albert’s hand again. He can’t _leave_! They might never see each other again.

Albert laughs a little and offers his phone to Spot. “Put your number in, we can meet up again later. I get off work around seven.”

Spot sighs and let's go. A phone number means they can get in contact again. They can find Albert _again_ this time.

“Yeah ok.” Spot takes the phone and hands Albert his in return. “We’re gettin’ dinner after - my family and us - should be around six-thirty to seven-ish, you can come, if you’d like.”

“I’d love to.” Albert laughs again. Spot could spend all day listening to Albert laugh, especially if Race and Elmer were there too. “Whatcha doin’ with your family?”

Spot groans, remembering what he was on his way to go do. “We’re seeing some musical, cuz my brother’s soulmate is in it.”

“Yeah? What musical?” Albert hands Spot his phone back with an amused smirk.

“I think it’s called _Newies_? I dunno, musicals aren’t really my thing.” Albert looks like he’s just been handed a present.

 _"Newsies_? I know that show! It’s real good! You’ll like it, I promise.”

Spot scoffs. “I doubt it.”

“How about a bet?” Albert asks, and maybe it’s because Spot spends too much time with Race, but he can’t back down from a bet. “If you like _Newsies_ then you have to pay for dinner for your whole family, but if you don’t enjoy it then I’ll buy dinner for your family, deal?”

“I couldn’t ask you to-“ Spot starts, he has a large family and he doesn’t want Albert to have to pay for everyone.

“You’re not asking,” Albert interrupts. “And _I_ won’t be paying.”

That _really_ gets Spot, there’s no way he’s saying ‘no’ now. Not with Albert being so cocky. 

“Fine then, it’s a deal. I’m sorry you have to pay for my family of seven, plus our two soulmates, plus Crutchie’s soulmate.” Spot _hates_ musicals, there’s no way he can lose.

“It’s a bet.” Albert still has a cocky smile when he leans down and pecks Spot on the mouth. “I’ll see you later, Spot! Text me!”

And then Albert’s gone, walking off in the opposite direction that Spot’s going, but Spot isn’t worried. He’ll see Albert tonight, when the ginger has to pay for dinner. There’s no way Spot can lose.

Spot heads home, he can’t wait to tell his soulmates who he’d just met, and who they’d see at dinner tonight. 

_‘Unless he disappears again.’_ The voice in his head reminds him, but Spot shakes the thought away. If Albert disappears again, Spot will hunt him down personally. Come hell or high water, Spot _will_ see Albert again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah ha! I'm so creative! What musical should they go see? I know! The show that they're from!
> 
> Anyway, I'm not sure if the last chapter will be ready by Monday, I'm still working on it, it's gonna be longer than the rest of the chapters.


	7. Albert, Race, Elmer, and Spot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's here!!! The last chapter ❤️❤️❤️  
> All the previous chapters have been about 1250 words long, this one is almost 3x the length
> 
> Yeah so because I am so very creative Albert is in Newsies, and he is playing himself. Several other newsies are mentioned, but who they're playing is not, so they could be playing whomever you want them to. I've taken the time to change the names of the characters in Newsies so if anyone cares, that list will be at the bottom of the chapter.
> 
> I realized that in chapter 5, they all watch John Mulaney The Comeback Kid. Which hit Netflix November 2015. And since that chapter took place on the first day of a new school year, that means it was at least September 2016. This chapter takes place five years later, which means it would take place in 2021, so obviously I'm great at keeping timelines in line with the real world. Whatever, just asume that Newsies is a relatively new musical at this time, and don't think about it as hard as I have.

Albert is excited.

He’s twenty-four and not sure that he’s ever been this excited in his  _ life. _

As he makes his way to the theater all he can think of is Spot. Spot who is Albert’s third soulmate. Spot who gave Albert his number. Spot who knows Tony and the corgi. Spot who’s coming to the show tonight.

And isn’t that an exciting thought. Spot and their other two soulmates are coming to see the show that Albert is  _ in _ and they don’t even know it.  _ Oh this is going to be fun! _

Albert can’t keep the smile off his face, and his giddy-ness must be clear because as soon as Finch sees him he’s making his way over.

“What’s with you?” The taller man asks. Albert met Finch in physical therapy after he woke up from the coma. Albert had to relearn how to work his body while Finch was recovering from a broken leg. The two had hit it off instantly, and Albert is sure he never would have made it through rehab without Finch by his side.

“They probably just got a new shipment of snapbacks at Hot Topic.” Jojo suggests, following behind Finch. Albert just smiles and shakes his head.

“No, better.” He tells them, ignoring the jibe.  _ So much better. _

“Better than snapbacks?” Finch asks mock-skeptically. “Who are you and what have you done with Albert?”

“Fine, see if I tell you.” Albert sticks his tongue out. Some friends he’s got.

Finch and Jojo spend the entire time they’re getting ready trying to wring and answer from Albert, but he doesn’t give. They’ll see the pitbull sooner or later. 

In the meantime, Spot added Albert to a group chat with Tony and Elmer, and while Albert would love to actually see them in person, he can make due with some photos and texts instead. It’s nice to see what Tony looks like now, since the last time Albert saw him was when they were both six. It’s even better to finally have a face to put on the corgi, whom Albert hadn’t known until today even the gender of the person he had soulbonded with. After waking up from the coma no one would tell him where the corgi had come from, but he always knew it was because his mom had forbidden anyone from telling him. He had always hoped that they were a boy, after realizing that he was gay in high school it was hard to cope with the fact that the soulmate he had met as a child had been a girl, and the thought that he was somehow broken had followed him for years leading up to his overdose. Now though, he had three beautifully male soulmates, and he knows that he wasn’t ever broken.

The three boys spam him with pictures and he knows that they’re just as excited to find him as he is to find them. He sends back pictures too. Mostly some he already had on his camera roll, though he does send them one he took in the bathroom before changing into his costume. He doesn’t want to give away the surprise early after all.

**From Tony to Soulmates💙 ❤️💛💜:**   
_ Albie! 😍 you’re so pretty!! _

**From Albert:** _   
_ _ I’m pretty sure I’m not the pretty one here _

**From Tony:** _   
_ _ There’s room for two pretty boys here 😉 _

**From Elmer:** _   
_ _ What about me? _

**From Albert:** _   
_ _ You’re adorable **❤️** _

**From Elmer:** **  
** _ I can’t wait to see you later!!! _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ Me neither!! _

**From Tony:** _   
_ _ You better show up. If you don’t we’ll send Spot to go beat you up don’t think we won’t  _

**From Spot Conlon:** **  
** _ I will hunt you down myself if you don’t show up _

**From Albert:** _   
_ _ Don’t worry. I’ve been without you guys for too long to skip out on you know _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ I have to go now, but I’ll see you guys later! Promise _

**From Elmer:** **  
** _ See you later Albert!!! _

“-and see he hasn’t paid us a bit of attention.” The sound of Finch’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts and back to reality. Reality where Finch and Jojo are talking about him like he can’t hear them.

“I can hear you.” Albert tells them without looking up from his phone.

“Wow that’s new.” Jojo says sarcastically. “What’s on your phone then? A cute boy?”

“Nope,” Albert can’t help the smile that takes over his face. “It’s three cute boys.”

“WHAT!?” Both boys yell out in unison, much to Albert’s amusement.

“When did this happen?” Finch demands. Any further questions are derailed, however, when Jojo notices movement on Albert’s now bare arms.

“You have a new mark!” Jojo exclaims, pointing at the new pitbull. Albert can’t contain his grin anymore.

“When did this happen!?” Finch demands again, louder this time.

“His name is Spot,” Albert tells them, even just thinking about this morning makes him feel gooey inside. “I met him earlier today on my way here. He knows the other two.”

“Albert! That’s so exciting!” Exclaims Jojo as he tackles Albert with a hug. 

“I’m surprised you even showed up today.” Finch says, amused at Jojo’s antics. “Everyone would understand if you skipped today. I would.”

“You  _ did,”  _ Specs reminds him, coming up from behind Finch and throwing an arm around his shoulders. “But he has a point, Albert, no one would blame you for spending time with your soulmates, especially since…”

Specs trails off in an effort to avoid saying something rude. Albert just smiles, who cares about eighteen years with only a soulmark or two for company when he’s going to  _ meet _ all three of them tonight. 

“They’re coming to the show tonight.” Albert tells them, a little smugly.

“Wow, they just meet you and buy tickets?” Jojo asks, impressed and maybe a little scared if Albert’s soulmates were really able to get three tickets for tonight’s show on such short notice.

“Nah, turns out Spot’s brother’s soulmate is in the show, so they were already coming. Actually I didn’t even tell him that I’m in the show.” Albert smirks at the thought of how Spot, Elmer, and Tony will react to seeing him on stage tonight. “They’re gonna be so surprised.”

“Hey! My soulmate’s family is coming to see the show tonight!” Finch exclaims.

“Aww, you guys are gonna be brothers-in-law!” Jojo coos. Finch just hits him with his newsboy cap.   
  


Race is antsy.

This morning he had been so excited for this show, and now he can hardly wait until it’s over because once it’s over they’re going to dinner and  _ Albert’s coming. _ He wishes Spot could have convinced Albert to skip work, most bosses are pretty understanding about this type of thing. He’d much rather be at home with Spot, Elmer and Albert than see this musical that he’d been dying to see for months. 

They’ve already taken their seats in the theater, Race has Spot on one side and Elmer on the other, and are just waiting for the show to start. Race can’t stop shaking his leg or drumming his fingers on the arm rest. Spot’s too focused on ribbing Crutchie with Jack to notice, but it eventually annoys Elmer enough that grabs Race’s hand in one of his and rests the other one on the offending leg.

“It’s going to be fine, Race. Enjoy the show and it will be over before you know it.” Elmer gives his hand a squeeze.

“What if he doesn’t show up?” It’s thought that’s been running around Race’s head since Albert last texted them that he had to go.

Elmer smiles softly and gives him a small peck. 

“He’ll show up.” He assures just as the lights dim. With one last peck, Elmer turns to face the stage. 

_ ‘Here we go.’ _ Race thinks.

The opening number has a boy whom Race assumes is the main character singing about how he longs to leave New York for Santa Fe, and Race can’t help but lean around Spot to give Jack a pointed look. Jack is staring at the stage, resolutely ignoring the looks he’s receiving from Race and all of his siblings. When the number ends, the boy calls out a bunch of names and then the towers on stage are moving. When they stop there’s a different boy with a cigar in his mouth on one who calls out the names again, followed by-

_ “I was havin’ the most beautiful dream.” _ A second boy walks into view to stand behind the first one, and Elmer elbows Race in the side so hard it knocks some of the wind out of him. Race turns to Spot to see if Spot is seeing what Race and Elmer are seeing. Spot is staring wide-eyed at the stage, so he must be seeing the same thing.  _ “My lips are still tinglin’.” _

“No way.” Elmer whispers just loud enough for Race to hear him. “No  _ way.” _

_ “Ooo pretty goil?” _

_ “A leg of lamb.” _ As the line is delivered, a familiar corgi trots around the boy’s arm so that it’s visible to the audience on his bare bicep. Elmer lets out an undignified squeak, while Spot whispers “that  _ fucker” _ a little too loudly for being in a crowded theater.

All Race can do it sit there with his mouth open. All the tension has left his body, and if it weren’t for the seat he’d probably be lying on the floor, legs unable to support him. Albert is in  _ Newsies. _ Albert knew they were going to be here, and he said  _ nothing. _ Race would be mad if it wasn’t exactly the type of thing he’d do. Suddenly, Race is excited about the musical again.   
  


Elmer can’t  _ believe _ this. 

_ Albert is in Newsies! _ And he looks so much better than he did seven years ago. Not just because he’s not in a coma, but because he looks like he’s been eating, his coloring is healthy, and he looks genuinely happy up on that stage. 

And he’s hot.

That’s something Elmer definitely hadn’t been looking for when he had taken a coma patient’s pulse all those years ago. He probably would have been hot back then too, if he’d been awake.

Elmer doesn’t pay much attention to the storyline of the musical, he’s too busy watching Albert. The only time Elmer really pays attention to other actors is when Albert isn’t on the stage, so he knows that the Jack Kelly-esc character is running from a man named Snyder and knows a performer who’s very Medda Larkin-esc, the rest of the plot is a little foggy.

The lead actor has one final dramatic song about Santa Fe before intermission. When the house lights rise, Elmer stands to stretch a little before making his way to a bathroom.

These plans are foiled, however, when he stands and is immediately pulled in to Race’s lap.

“Where ya goin’, Elly?” Race whines in his ear.

“To the bathroom, Racer,” Elmer laughs, trying to get out of Race’s octopus hold. “Lemme go.”

_ “Fine.” _ Race sighs dramatically, releasing Elmer from his hold. “But come back quickly, I wanna talk about the show with you.”

“Race, I haven’t been paying attention to the show.” Elmer’s surprised that Race has been paying attention, even if he  _ is  _ a theater nerd.

Race just rolls his eyes. “I  _ know,  _ El, we’re not gonna talk about the  _ musical, _ we’re gonna talk about the  _ show.” _

“What? Oh.  _ Oh!”  _ Elmer’s eyes widen at the realization of what Race means. “Yeah, I’ll be back real quick.”

Elmer leans down to peck Race before he leaves. Spot must have some kind of spidey-senses that tell him when his soulmates are being affectionate without him because he whips around from his conversation with Jack to face them just as Elmer is straightening up again. He looks at Elmer expectantly, Elmer just laughs and gives him a peck too.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” Elmer tells him before turning to leave.

Elmer’s trip to the bathroom takes longer than he had anticipated as everyone else had also gotten up to go to the bathroom during intermission. As he stands in line, he pulls his phone out to see a few texts on their soulmate chat from a few minutes prior.

**From Spottie ❤️ to Soulmates💙❤️💛💜:** **  
** _ You little shit! You tricked me! _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ I did no such thing! _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ But I’ll take that to mean you’ve enjoyed it so far 😉 _

**From Spottie ❤️:** **  
** _ Of course I have you’re in it _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ 😉 _

**From Albert:** _   
_ _ But actually I’m not that narcissistic, there’s a song in act 2 that I think you’re gonna love and it has nothing to do with me _

**From Spottie ❤️:** _   
_ _ If I don’t like the song then I’m not paying for dinner _

**From Albert:** _   
_ _ Aw come on Spotty! We had a deal _

**From Spottie ❤️:** **  
** _ You rigged the bet _

**From Racer🏇:** **  
** _ A bet you say _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ We made a bet that if Spot liked the show then he’d have to pay for dinner for everyone  _

**From Spottie ❤️:** **  
** _ YOU TRICKED ME _

That last one came in while Elmer was reading through the previous messages

**From Elmer:** **  
** _ It sounds pretty fair to me _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ See! Elmer’s on my side! _

**From Spottie ❤️:** _   
_ _ Fine but I better love this song you’re talking about _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ You strike me as a proud Brooklyn boy _

**From Racer🏇:** **  
** _ Oh he is _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ Then you’ll love it _

**From Albert:** **  
** _ I gotta go, but I’ll see you guys after the show 😉 _

When Elmer gets back from the bathroom, Race has moved from his seat and onto Spot’s lap where he’s clearly having a conversation with Spot, Jack, and Crutchie.

“Hey.” Elmer greets as he takes Race’s seat.

“Hey, El. We were just discussing Crutchie’s soulmate.” Spot tells him.

“Oh yeah! Which one is he?” Crutchie hands Elmer the playbill and points to one of the actor bios.

Patrick ‘Finch’ Cortes.

“Finch?” Elmer questions.

“Yeah, his soulmark is an American goldfinch, but he had the nickname before he met me.” Crutchie explains with a grin that most people get when talking about their soulmates.

“How’d he get the nickname?” Elmer asks, aware that Spot, Race, and Jack have probably already had this conversation with Crutchie while he was in the bathroom.

“He said his childhood friend, Blink, gave it to him because he was always whistling some song or another.”

“What kind of name is ‘Blink’?” Jack asks incredulously, as if he hadn’t been the one to give both Race and Crutchie their nicknames.

“Finch said he only had one eye.”

“What!?” Jack, Race, and Elmer all yell in unison. Crutchie puts his hands up in a don’t-shoot-the-messenger gesture.

“I don’t know! He said Blink had one eye, that’s all I know.”

Jack shakes his head and turns to Spot. “So which one is yours?”

Race snags the playbill from Elmer and relocates himself to Jack’s lap, much to Jack chagrin, freeing up Spot’s lap for Elmer to sit on. Spot’s arms wrap around Elmer’s waist and pull him closer.

“Here he is!” Race shows Jack and Crutchie the bio for Albert.

“He’s the one with red hair, Jack, does he really need to be pointed out to you?” Spot asks, mostly because he loves to start arguments with his adopted brother.

Before Jack can defend himself the house lights dim and brighten again a few times to signal the end of the intermission.

“Budge over, Spotty, I wanna sit next to Jack.” Race says, pushing at Spot’s shoulder. Spot sighs, but doesn’t protest as he picks Elmer up and deposits him in the next seat before relocating himself to Elmer’s other side, so now Elmer is in the middle of the three of them.

Elmer will try to pay more attention to this act, but he will probably just go back to staring at Albert the entire time instead.   
  


Spot is so fucking  _ done. _

It’s not that he doesn’t like seeing Albert, he  _ loves _ seeing Albert, and seeing him dance is hot. It’s just that that  _ shit _ knew they’d be here and didn’t tell him. 

_ And _ that stupid rigged bet. That’s bothering him.

Of course right after the Jack wannabe gets thrown in the cellar and beats up a printing press Albert is proven correct.

_ “Newsies need our help today _

_ Newsies need our help today _

_ Tell them BROOKLYN’S on their way _

_ Tell them BROOKLYN’S on their way _

_ We’re from _

_ Brooklyn _

_ We are _

_ Newsies _

_ We are _

_ Brooklyn _

_ NEWSIES” _

Damn Albert for knowing him so well already.

Spot can begrudgingly admit that he didn’t hate this musical as much as he thought he would. It probably has something to do with the obnoxious but cute redhead who is a  _ liar,  _ but Spot would gladly buy him dinner whenever he wants. 

After the show Spot and his soulmates and his family all wait in the theater lobby as the audience dispersed into the night, back to wherever it is they came from. They’re not the only ones standing around, other cast members have family or friends waiting for them, though maybe not as many as are waiting for Finch and Albert. 

The twins are eighteen now, so they’re not as chaotic as they use to be, but sitting in a theater for about three hours has got them just as squirrely as they were when Spot first met them, so they’re sprinting around the lobby like a couple of demons. Smalls is texting her girlfriend, they’re not soulmates, but they’re young and they have time to be happy with each other before they start searching for soulmates. Jack and Race are still ribbing Crutchie about his soulmate while Elmer just burrows into Race’s side. Spot watches from the side, happy with the family he found when Medda Larkin took him in. Speaking of Medda…

“How’re you feeling, baby?” Medda wraps her arm around Spot’s shoulders.

“We found him, mama.” Spot whispers, leaning into her side.

“You did, baby. I’m so happy for you.”

Whatever Spot had been planning to say next gets cut of when Race screeches. “ALBIE!” And proceeds to sprint across the lobby towards the door that cast members have been slowly trickling out of.

Race launches himself into the unsuspecting redhead’s arms and wraps his legs around his waist. Spot has to give Albert credit though because even though he definitely hadn’t been expecting the blond projectile, he still catches Race under the thighs to keep him steady, and he only stumbles slightly from the momentum. Once Albert’s regained his balance Race drags him into a kiss.

The other cast members have all taken to hooting and hollering at them, but Race and Albert aren’t paying attention, too wrapped up in each other. It’s weird to see the cast in modern clothes after two hours of them dancing around in period clothes. It’s not quite as weird to see Albert in modern clothes since he’s wearing what he was when Spot bumped into him earlier, but it’s still a little jarring.

Elmer takes off towards the pair, but Spot hangs back to watch for a minute. They’re finally all together, and Spot wants to savor it for a second before he jumps in.

Elmer reaches Race and Albert and Albert releases Race’s legs so he can wrap one arm around Race and the other around Elmer. As Elmer pulls Albert in for his own kiss, Race turns to yell across the lobby at Spot. 

“Getcha ass over here, Spotty!” Medda gives Spot a little push, and Spot walks calmly towards his soulmates. Spot Conlon does not run like a giddy child, but if he’s walking a little fast then there nothing anyone can really say. Jack and Smalls are yelling ‘encouragements’ behind him, but he’s  _ not  _ paying them any attention.  _ ‘Stupid siblings.’ _

By the time Spot reaches his soulmates, Elmer and Albert have finished kissing, and all three are looking at him expectantly. Albert’s smirking at him and Spot really hadn’t thought anyone could be as infuriating as Race while still being just as hot, but there he is.

“Did you like the show?” Albert asks with an innocent tone, but a shit-eating grin.

“Shut the fuck up.” Spot growls, yanking Albert down into a kiss. The crowd around them cheer, and Spot might be annoyed if he wasn’t busy doing other things.

“Well, it’s official,” Race declares as they pull apart. “You’re never getting rid of us now.”

“Wouldn’t ever want to.” 

And the moment is perfect. Just the four of them, finally all together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I knew I had to end this chapter in the theater or else it would go on forever, so there wasn't a whole lot of the four of them together, but I hope there was enough for you all.  
> Anyway I hope you liked it! I loved writing this story.
> 
> New newsie names (lol I’m so creative):  
> Jack Kelly - Dan Murphy (why isn't it Francis Sullivan? Because shut up that's why)  
> David Jacobs - Samuel Davids   
> Les - Abe  
> Katherine - Lucy  
> Spot Conlon - Patch Campbell (*thinks to myself: what's a sterotypical dog name that could be someone's nickname?*)  
> Racetrack/Race - Cigarette/Cigs  
> Albert - Red  
> Crutchie is remaining Crutchie (though maybe spelled Crutchy) cuz I couldn't think of a good name that would work in the lyrics of the songs  
> Finch - Sparrow  
> Romeo - Casanova   
> Specs - Lens  
> Kid Blink - One Eyed Joe  
> Tommy Boy - Johnny Boy  
> Sniper - Scopes  
> Jojo - Coco  
> Smalls - Shorty  
> Elmer - Isaac  
> Mike - Mack  
> Ike - Jack  
> Buttons - Stitches
> 
> If I didn't include their name then I either didn't feel like I had to change it, or I couldn't think of a good one  
> Feel free to use any of these names if you want them for any reason  
> Also I put way too much thought into Jack, Davey, and Spot's alternate names, way too much.


End file.
